1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a pressure plate assembly for a friction clutch, comprising a housing arrangement; a pressure plate, which is connected to the housing arrangement for rotation in common around an axis of rotation; and a force-exerting arrangement, preferably a force-storing device, which is supported against the housing arrangement and the pressure plate so that it can exert force on them.
2. Description of the Related Art
When these types of pressure plate assemblies are used in friction clutches, the occurrence of wear in the area of the friction linings of a clutch disk leads on principle to the problem that the pressure plate shifts position relative to the housing arrangement as a function of the amount of wear, and thus the force-exerting arrangement also changes its installation position. When a diaphragm spring is used as the force-storing device, this shift in position causes the actuating forces to change also. When this type of clutch arrangement is used in conjunction with an unsynchronized gearbox, there is the problem that, because of the change in the installation position of the force-storing device or of the force-exerting arrangement, the actuating mechanism also changes its position and to this extent the correct and reliable actuation of a gearbox brake during the performance of clutch-release processes is no longer assured.
To deal with this problem, it is known that automatic wear take-up systems can be provided in these types of pressure plate assemblies, but they are relatively complicated in design and therefore expensive. It is also known that opportunities for manual compensation can be provided on the actuating mechanism itself to keep the actuating position of this mechanism essentially constant despite changes in the installation position of the force-exerting arrangement caused by wear. These types of compensating systems, however, are usually difficult to reach and are frequently subject to severe corrosion, which makes them very difficult to actuate.